Board members of Icann, the internet's overseeing body, have poured scorn on their own organisation, calling it "a failed experiment in internet policy development" and an "unstable and suspicious environment".

Yesterday, just days after the organisation's annual meeting in Ghana ended, three key members of the Icann board published an open letter to the internet community entitled 'Overcoming Icann'.

Calling themselves PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility), David Farber, Peter Neumann and Lauren Weinstein slated "Icann's lack of meaningful representation, and its continuing pattern of drastic and seemingly arbitrary structural and policy changes (among other shortcomings)" as "detrimental to the interests of internet users".

As a result, the group is calling for the immediate transfer of all Icann's responsibilities to another already existing non-profit organisation, such as the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).

"The resulting overly politicised situation not only threatens the stability of the internet itself, but also invites drastic and undesirable interventions by a variety of vested interests," the group said.

Icann's president, Stuart Lynn, recently acknowledged problems with the body when he called for reform within the organisation's ranks. But yesterday the PFIR claimed that internal problems within Icann had already gone beyond the scope of repair.

"Time is definitely of the essence if a potential meltdown of internet policies, functionalities and operations in the near future is to be avoided. Icann is seriously broken, and the most productive course would be for Icann's role in internet affairs to be discontinued," the group said.

The PFIR claims that the amount of "bad blood" and institutional "baggage" Icann carries will doom "reform" efforts within the organisation itself to ineffectiveness at best.

"If we do not take these steps, we may well be dooming the internet to a future of mediocrity at best, or of decay, fragmentation, greed and, even worse, outrages," the group said.

Also yesterday, Karl Auerbach, another Icann board member, sued the organisation for withholding financial information.

Auerbach has been trying unsuccessfully to gain access to Icann's financial records since he joined the board in November 2000, even though he is a board director and legally allowed to see all company records.

Auerbach's move follows a scathing broadside from Randy Bush, co-chairman of the IETF, at the end of February. Bush slammed Icann for being "frivolous with its cash" and more interested in "fancy meetings than simple stewardship and management of the internet."